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St. Louis city orders homeless shelter to shut down

New Life Evangelistic Center St. LouisST. LOUIS (AP) — The city of St. Louis has ordered a downtown homeless shelter to shut down, claiming the site is operating illegally without an occupancy permit.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the walk-in New Life Evangelistic Center was ordered Wednesday to cease and desist on property it has called home for four decades.

The shelter has been without the permit since the city revoked it in May of last year.

The shelter’s operator, the Rev. Larry Rice, calls Wednesday’s move “harassing” and says he plans to appeal.

Rice says 200 people stay at the shelter overnight, and 50 live there and are offered services including a “two-year leadership program.” The center also runs a day center for women and children.

Voter turnout in Missouri falls short of high expectations

Voting booths vote electionKANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri’s voter turnout is slightly up from the 2012 elections but didn’t meet record-breaking predictions by election officials.

Secretary of State Jason Kander on Wednesday announced the unofficial turnout in Tuesday’s election was a little less than 67 percent. More than 2.8 million registered voters cast ballots in the state.

Those numbers don’t include provisional and overseas absentee ballots.

Local election authorities had predicted nearly 3.1 million voters, higher than the record of 2.9 million votes in the 2008 elections. But turnout was slightly up this year from the roughly 66 percent during the last presidential election in 2012.

Election results will be certified about four weeks after the election.

Targeted Kansas Supreme Court justices retained

courtTOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Voters are retaining four Kansas Supreme Court justices targeted for removal by abortion opponents and conservative Republicans.

The results from Tuesday’s election mean that Chief Justice Lawton Nuss and Justices Carol Beier, Dan Biles and Marla Luckert will remain on the seven-member court for another six years.

Voters also retained Justice Caleb Stegall. He was GOP Gov. Sam Brownback’s only appointee and was not targeted.

The ouster campaign started with critics of rulings that overturned death sentences in capital punishment cases. Abortion opponents also joined the effort, as did a gun-rights group. Conservative Republicans were critical of previous court rulings in education funding cases.

Nuss and Luckert were appointed to the court by moderate GOP Gov. Bill Graves. Beier and Biles were appointed by Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius.

Obama urges smooth transition and Clinton urges backers to accept outcome

Photos courtesy of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump’s campaign websites/Missourinet.
Photos courtesy of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump’s campaign websites/Missourinet.

Obama urges smooth transition

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says he’s instructing his team to make sure there is a peaceful transfer of power to Donald Trump.

Obama spoke Wednesday in the White House’s Rose Garden following Trump’s upset victory in Tuesday’s presidential election.

He noted that he and Trump have had big differences. Trump promises to repeal many of Obama’s achievements over the past eight years. Obama had warned voters that if Trump were to win, “all that progress goes down the drain.”

Now, Obama said “we all want what’s best for this country.” He said the point is that we all go forward with a presumption of good faith in all citizens. He says that’s how the country has moved forward and he’s confident that the incredible American journey will continue.

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Clinton tells backers they must accept outcome

NEW YORK (AP) — Hillary Clinton says America “is more deeply divided than we thought,” but she is urging her supporters to accept the outcome of the presidential election.

In a speech conceding the presidency to Republican Donald Trump, Clinton said, “I still believe in America, and I always will.”

She noted that “our responsibility as citizens is to keep doing our part to keep building that better, stronger, fairer America.”

Clinton says losing the election “is painful, and it will be for a long time.” But she said of Trump, “We owe him an open mind and a chance to lead.” Clinton says American democracy depends on “peaceful transition of power.”

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Exit polls reveal Trump’s strength

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Donald Trump won the presidency fueled by a surge of working-class whites across a band of Midwestern states. Those are the kind of voters who had helped anchor Democratic presidential victories for a generation.

Trump won states such as Pennsylvania and Iowa that had twice backed Barack Obama.

Exit polls and unofficial returns reflect deep racial, gender, economic and cultural divides across the region and nationally.

Trump’s support Tuesday skewed older, more male and overwhelmingly white. His supporters said they are deeply dissatisfied with the federal government and eager for change. That’s according to the exit polls conducted by Edison Research for national media outlets.

Democrat Hillary Clinton’s support was anchored in cities, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Trump’s advantages in small towns, rural areas and many suburbs.

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Another Bush congratulates Trump

UNDATED (AP) — Another former president Bush is congratulating Donald Trump on winning the race for the White House.

George W. Bush said in a statement that he called Trump Wednesday. He said he and his wife, Laura, wished the president-elect and his family “our very best as they take on an awesome responsibility.”

Bush added: “We pray for the success of our country and the success of our new president.”

A spokesman said Bush and his wife didn’t vote for Trump when casting early ballots for Tuesday’s election.

Bush’s father, George H.W. Bush, also called and congratulated Trump on Wednesday.

Jeb Bush today addressed a Tweet to Trump, saying, “I will pray for you in the days and months to come.”

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GOP critic of Trump and Clinton praises Clinton’s speech

WASHINGTON (AP) — A prominent Republican critic of both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump is giving the Democrat high marks for her concession speech.

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said in a statement Wednesday that Clinton should be congratulated for “doing her part to bring about healing of our nation.”

Unimpressed with either candidate, Graham quipped in September that the choice “makes me want to move to Canada.”

But a day after the election, Graham said Clinton struck the right tone.

Graham said, “all Americans should follow her counsel and try to work with our next president.”

He said Trump “will need all the help he can get given the many challenges we face as a nation.”

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Trump has a Supreme Court vacancy to fill

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump will enter the Oval Office with the ability to re-establish the Supreme Court’s conservative tilt and the chance to cement it for the long term.

Trump is expected to act quickly to fill one court vacancy and could choose the successor for up to three justices who will be in their 80s by the time his term ends.

The court has been short-handed since Justice Antonin Scalia died in February, and Trump has said he would seek someone in Scalia’s mold from a list of 21 people, mainly conservative state and federal judges in their 50s.

Trump’s victory was a vindication for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s strategy of refusing all year even to consider President Barack Obama’s nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to take Scalia’s seat.

Republicans ride historic night in Missouri election

Capitol MoKANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Republicans pulled off a clean sweep of Missouri’s top elections, giving the party an unprecedented level of dominance in the former bellwether state.

Donald Trump’s victory at the top of the ticket Tuesday was just the start of the big night for Republicans in the Show-Me State.

Republicans went 5-for-5 in state contests. Former Navy Seal Eric Greitens defeated Attorney General Chris Koster in the race for governor, and Republican Sen. Roy Blunt held off a spirited challenge from Democrat Jason Kander.

Republicans also won the races for lieutenant governor (Mike Parson), attorney general (Josh Hawley), secretary of state (Jay Ashcroft) and treasurer (Eric Schmitt).

Never before has the Republican Party in Missouri held such power across the board.

Campaign chief describes Trump’s conversations with Clinton, Obama

TrumpWASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump’s campaign manager Kellyanne Conway says the president-elect had a “gracious exchange” with Hillary Clinton and a “warm conversation” with President Barack Obama.

In a pair of interviews on ABC and NBC News Wednesday, Conway said Clinton’s top aide, Huma Abedin, called her late Wednesday and connected Clinton with Trump. She said Clinton “congratulated him for his victory,” and he told Clinton that she is “very smart, very tough” and had “waged a tremendous campaign.”

Conway said the Trump campaign isn’t upset that Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton hasn’t yet made a public concession speech.

Trump said during the campaign that he would assign a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton. But Conway told ABC’s Good Morning America, “we have not discussed that at all.”

Wichita State University to go tobacco-free in 2017

cigarette, smoking, smokeWICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Wichita State University is set to implement a ban on tobacco use on campus in 2017.

The Wichita Eagle reports that students, faculty, staff members and visitors won’t be allowed to use tobacco on the university campus starting July 1. The new policy includes cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco and electronic cigarettes. People will be allowed to smoke in designated outdoor areas during sporting events, with prior approval from the university.

Student-run organization Tobacco Free Wu & Me has led efforts to ban tobacco on campus. The group’s current vice president Emma Crabtree says the July start date will allow the organization time to publicize the new policy.

Man charged in Kansas stabbings that killed girl

wichita-policeWICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas man accused of fatally stabbing a 6-year-old girl, critically injuring her sister and raping their mother is charged with first-degree murder.

Sedgwick County prosecutors filed charges Tuesday against the 47-year-old man, who is related to the mother. He’s jailed on $1 million bond.

Wichita police responding to a vehicle accident Friday found the 6-year-old and her 24-year-old mother stabbed inside a Jeep in a strip mall’s parking lot. The girl died at a hospital.

Her 4-year-old sister, also stabbed, was found miles away wandering in a field.

Case documents that would show whether the man had an attorney weren’t available online Tuesday. Calls to the jail seeking the same information rang unanswered.

The Associated Press is withholding the man’s name to prevent potentially identifying a sexual assault victim.

Another recusal in case of trooper charged in drowning

Brandon Ellingson  (Photo courtesy Missourinet)
Brandon Ellingson (Photo courtesy Missourinet)

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Another judge has recused himself from handling the case of a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper who is charged in the drowning of a handcuffed Iowa man.

The Kansas City Star reports that Morgan County Circuit Judge Stan Moore announced the decision Monday without explanation during a hearing for Anthony Piercy. Moore is the third judge to recuse himself, an action that will delay the case.

Piercy was charged last year with involuntary manslaughter in the death of Brandon Ellingson, an Arizona State University student from suburban Des Moines. The 20-year-old went into the water in 2014 as Piercy was transporting him from the Lake of the Ozarks on suspicion of boating while intoxicated. Witnesses have said that Ellingson was wearing an improperly secured life jacket that slipped off.

Man suspected in Iowa State Fair stabbing held in Des Moines

Iowa State Patrol patchDES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A man suspected of a stabbing at the Iowa State Fair has been arrested in Des Moines.

The Iowa Department of Public Safety says Craig Hunt was arrested around 1:45 a.m. Tuesday at an apartment complex and taken to Polk County Jail. Online court records don’t list the name of an attorney who could comment on Hunt’s behalf.

The Iowa State Patrol says Darquan Jones was attacked around 10:20 p.m. on Aug. 21 near the southwest corner of the Midway. He was taken to a hospital for treatment of two stab wounds and has since been released.

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